Visiting Mineral Wells & Granbury with Mom & Dad

One of the things I most love about my dad is his tenacious excitement to explore new places, especially in Texas. I have learned so much from him about our grand state, just by simply deciding to take a drive and start exploring places. I love that he thinks about me, my mom, and my brother when he sees a place he wants to visit and makes it a point to get us together for a day or weekend of exploring. I believe this is where I got the travel bug inside of me, but my exploration of places usually includes locations outside of the U.S. :) 

My dad is a truck driver, and it was something he wanted to do since he was a little boy. Literally, he had his sights set on being a truck driver. I'm not sure if it's mostly due to having the ability to explore and see new places while working, or if it is related to him just wanting to be free. See, while my dad is so sweet to me and to everyone in his family - he would give you the shirt off his back if he needed to, to ensure you're comfortable before he is - he is also an introvert. Meeting new people is not his thing, but he's never rude about it either, just simply not that guy that will talk your ear off about nonsense, just to fill in empty space, and I truly admire that about him. 

Which takes me to our incredible Saturday afternoon on a February day that felt like a gorgeous day in Spring. The weather was about 70 degrees, and just lovely. We decided to go to Mineral Wells to visit a very specific shop my dad wanted to take me to. He told me it would probably take us hours to visit the entire shop. I love antiquing and thrift shopping (Joanne Gains is my soul sister). We arrived to the very small town of Mineral Wells, and walk into a place called Garrett. I have more on my snapchat to show how almost anything nostalgic you could think of was there. It was a shop filled to max capacity, and the workers and owner were just so sweet. We did spend a good 2-3 hours in the store just looking around. It's one of those stores where you may have missed something on your first pass through, and you don't even notice you missed it on your first pass until you pass through the section again! We visited other stores around the area and definitely did purchase a few things for the house and for my parents. 

Then, we decided to hit up Granbury, TX. My dad has been telling me about good 'ole Granbury and about this "beach" that I need to check out. It was right off the town's large square, and just gorgeous. It was bustling with people, but I imagine in the warmer months that place is really packed with much more visitors. There are so many good local shops (my fav) and the small beach, even if it is man made. At the end of the day was just perfect to relax and listen to the water. I grew up in the Gulf Coast, and while I love Dallas and all it has to offer, I so do miss my beach, even if it wasn't blue waters and white sand beaches, it was where I grew up and it's a part of me. It was a nice ending to the day spent with my parents. I felt like I was back home where I grew up. Signs of the "Brazos" all around, visiting such friendly shop owners, taking our time to look around, driving the back county roads to get from city to city, and being with my parents is just what I needed. 

I took a few photos, and was able to get my dad to pose for a few with my mom. I love these photos and the day we had. I know I'm usually posting high school senior portraits, and while that's a strong passion of mine for many reasons, I also love to just photograph my life and time shared with family.

Have you visited Mineral Wells or Granbury? If so, let me know. I'd love to hear about it, especially if I missed some hidden treasures. I assume I'll be back around those areas at some point in the future. Cheers to mini weekend trips!